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Ah, well, in that case, once I start upgrading (in a year or so's time) and I find a knife that I think I'm going to stick with for a while, I'll make sure and get a pretty handle put on it, rather than living with a functional one...

Got some new stuff for the kit. Gesshin 400 ( awesome stone ), fish scaler( mostly for home use my pops is a retired painter turned commercial fisherman so I've got a "fresh off the boat" source for my sea food ), fish tweezers( lent my last pair out at work and never got them back ), and a Suisin inox honyaki 240mm suji also from Jon( still in the mail ). We've had a recent flushing( four quit, one fired ) of personel and most of the new guys are not very cutlery concious or experienced and I fear for my carbon blades and don't want to have to baby sit them all the time, so I've got a 240 hd gyuto, and the suisin to fill the bill till I feel comfortably bringing my expensive carbons back in.

Hah, sounds good. I'm a coffee amateur. Up until recently I've gotten by on instant. So I went out and got the machinetta to try and replicate the awesome cafe cubano I used to have while in Miami. It's still coming along but already leaps and bounds better than the instant. My mom always rocked the machinetta till ours exploded one day and cut a hole in the ceiling lol.

By far the best thing you can do is get fresh coffee. Whole bean. Use it within two weeks of roast or throw it away. You can buy bulk and freeze it, taking out what you need as you go. I suggest Redbird coffee, this guy really knows his stuff and is reasonable, especially at bulk. I've been roasting coffee for 5 years now, another cool hobby. Gear is flexible, but that contraption there won't give you espresso, just burnt coffee. To someone starting out who wants the best and not to spend a lot, I suggest getting a Bodum french press, whirly blade grinder (yours will work), and fresh coffee. If you have a few extra bucks, a water boiler saves time and is convenient. If you want something resembling espresso, you will need to spend at least $300 (not counting Ebay deals) on a grinder, and at least $500 on an espresso machine. The closer you get to $500, the more you need to practice the nuances of the machine. The more you spend, the more forgiving it is. And for the love of all things caffeinated, do not ever buy a superautomatic machine. Bottom line, try some fresh coffee.

I prefer not to freeze coffee. I find it mutes the flavours a bit. I just buy small quantities and grind it fresh every day.

Actually, blind tastes tests among coffee experts have determined that there's no difference in frozen coffee, but a significant difference between coffee that has been left out and is older. The reason is that freezing arrests the decomposition process where by the volatilates in coffee breakdown and throw off carbon dioxide.

As for picking up flavors... well, that's where a vacuum sealer is a good idea.

First, that can and cannot be true for freezing. If you double and triple bag it like any self respecting coffee nut would, you wouldn't have off flavors. If you throw the bag in there (or the refrigerator) without multibagging it, you may get off flavors. This has been discussed to death at home-barista.com; the final consensus for most of the major coffee nuts is freezing is fine. I don't post there much, but have been part of that community much longer than here. Depending on where you live, and the quality of roasters near you, buying small quantities is not fiscally a good idea. The only reason I buy larger quantitities of espresso blends is because roasting at this altitude is hard for darker roasts. Plus, with Red Bird it is such an amazing blend, and about $10 a lb, it's hard to pass it up. I do roast my every days FP/drip at home.